Ashley Atkinson
Ashley Atkinson is a senior and the top student of the Propulsion class in the US Academy of Washington DC. Born into a military family Ashley decided to uphold the tradition and join the US Academy. During her initial training to join the US Academy she comes to a revelation about her life that ultimately changes her perspective in the way she lives. She dreams in the distant future to study astrology and work in the NASA program. Background Childhood Ashley Atkinson was born into a military family that were members of five of the six branches in the US Armed Forces. Ashley's mother died giving birth to her first daughter which tramatized her father the most. However, Ashley was a healthy baby girl and her father decided to cherish the gift his wife left behind. Ashley grew up in a single parent household with her older brother Bradley. Her father did his best to raise both Ashley and Bradley to become successful people later in life. Early Adolescence Ashley decided to apply for the US Academy not thinking she would meet the requirements in the kinetic tests to be accepted. However, her father checked Ashley out of the school and when she sees her father outside of the main office with Bradley in his US Army uniform he opened his arms and gave the biggest smile. He hugged Ashley to the point of suffocation and told Ashley that he received the letter from the US Academy congratulating her for being accepted. Her father takes Ashley and her brother to a party with family and friends to celebrate the great news. Ashley is the first member of the Atkinson family to be accepted into the US Academy and having a Liberator in the family is a great honor. After the party and celebration Ashley sees Bradley at the front porch and decides to talk to him. Bradley stares off into the night sky with his arms crossed making Ashley question what he was thinking about. Ashley asks if he was okay and Bradley said yes but she knew he was hiding something. After some persuasion Bradley admitted that he feels some jealousy toward his sister for being accepted into the US Academy. Bradley confesses to Ashley that he joined the US Army to make their father proud of him and his achievements and was less than satisfied by his response. Ashley hugged Bradley reassuring him that their father was proud of him and that he was always hesitant in showing emotions. Then Bradley asks Ashley why he showed he opened his emotions so easily when she was accepted into the US Academy but not when he was accepted into the army. Ashley could not answer the question acknowledging that their father, an retired Marine veteran, only showed pride to them when they achieved the highest possible goal like achieving all A's in a report card and anything less he shows no emotions. Both of them knew being accepted into the US Army was less than satisfactory in their father's eyes. In the summer Ashley is transported to the training camp for the eight week program of initial training. On arrival Ashley is assigned her Drill Coach, Ms. Ma, the strictest and harshest Drill Coach in the camp, for the duration of the program. During formation Ms. Ma singles out Ashley noticing that she is the daughter of the Marine who sacrificed his continued service by rescuing fifty comrades in the Quebec War. Ms. Ma then proceeds to demean Ashley shouting that he should be ashamed of having a child that can't even stand properly in formation. Ms. Ma demands Ashley to do fifty pushes which is only one of many confrontations Ashley endures. As each week passes by the training for Ashley become more excruciating and passed her physical and mental capacity. This in addition with Ms. Ma singling out Ashley for the littlest imperfections. During a group run on the track Ashley reached her threshold for pain and fell in all fours as the rest of the recruits continued on to the finish line. Ms. Ma ran to Ashley and immediately shouted at her to get back up and run the last few meters or the group will have to redo the day's training from the start. Ashley remained silent as tears began pouring out of her eyes. Ms. Ma shouting got louder and louder as Ashley hoped her loud cries would convince her to stop. Then a revelation appeared within Ashley's mind. This realization brought Ashley slowly back onto her two feet and she gradually ran with Ms. Ma by her side shouting to not stop. As soon as Ashley reached the finish line she fell exhausted close to losing consciousness. Ms. Ma stood in front of the group and commanded them to return to their barracks to handle hygienic needs and sleep as the weekend is the recruits' days off. Ashley looked up and saw Ms. Ma standing in front of her. Ashley got up almost losing her balance and walked back to her barrack. In the beginning of the weekend while others were performing personal errands and socializing Ashley remained on her bed thinking about the night before. Appearance Ashley is dark-skinned with straight shoulder length hair. She wears the traditional US Academy uniform. Personality Ashley is a charismatic and energetic student in the academy. She makes friends with every person in her classes and always exhibits overwhelming kindness. Abilities Relationships Bobby Williams Arthur Fitzpatrick